Popular Republican Movement

The Popular Republican Movement (MRP) was a Christian democratic political party in France that existed from 1944 to 1967. The MRP was founded by non-communist, Christian members of the French Resistance in 1944, and it claimed its loyalty to Charles de Gaulle. In the November 1945 legislative election, it won second place behind the French Communist Party and ahead of the SFIO; it was the only among the three largest parties not to be Marxist. However, the party agreed with the nationalization of banks and national industries, and it supported the welfare state; it defined itself as "a centrist party with right-wing voters but a left-wing policy". In 1947, the Rally of the French People (RPF) was formed as a new Gaullist political party in response to the MRP's support for the new constitution, which De Gaulle had opposed. The MRP became a mainstay of the French Fourth Republic, dominating foreign and colonial policy in the late 1940s into the 1950s. The party was a strong backer of NATO and alliance with the United States, and it supported De Gaulle's return to power in 1958. However, it left his coalition government in 1962 due to De Gaulle's opposition to extending European economic integration.